Raising standard of living will ease child-immigration problem.

The flow of Central American children across the border of the U.S. has spiked from about 6,800 children detained three years ago, to this year’s exodus of as many as 90,000 children. Politicians are feuding over how to handle these children, who are escaping life-or-death situations in violence-ridden countries such as Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico.

The Obama Administration has asked from $3.7 billion in emergency funding to detain and deport these child refugees, sending them back to their home countries to live with drug lords, gangs, rape and perpetual fear.

This issue brings to light the only true way to solve the immigration crisis. The complex causes to violence in Central American countries are all rooted in one thing: the debilitating effects of extreme poverty. When individuals are living on less than $2 a day, commonplace in Central America, they’re far more likely to turn to drug cartels and violent crime as a means of survival for themselves and their families.

People in the U.S. drastically overestimate what’s being done to address global poverty. On average, Americans estimate that 20 percent of the federal budget goes to foreign aid when, in reality, less than 1 percent goes to assisting the world’s poor.

Increasing the amount of humanitarian aid going to Central American countries would not only take pressure off America’s borders, but also serve our economic and diplomatic interests.

Making a commitment to improve the standard of living in Central American countries puts the U.S. in a position of international leadership, rather than being the “great nation” that deports thousands of children desperately seeking asylum.